In my opinion, this transcends the Obama phenomenon (though that is certainly both proximate and contributory), and, in this sense, is potentially a very healthy harbinger, if not one without pain across the spectrum (including, perhaps especially, for all of the "Clintons"--in this case, I use that designation symbolically--of the world).

The emergence in the early years of the past decade of what has continued to be called symbolically the Group of 77, but which is now composed of 119 countries, can be considered in the strict sense as a real sign of the times.

If President Obama wanted to fuel the fears of every serious Christian in America and actually prove that he is every bad thing they've ever heard about him on every crazy Web site, the idea of symbolically taking Jesus out of the White House at Christmas would be just the ticket!